Pic2Shop fixes Android smartphones with no autofocus

Barcode software Pic2Shop fixes smartphones lacking autofocusYou’ve seen the barcode scanners on other phones, but when you try to scan a barcode on your Motorola Devour, you only get a blurry mess. There has to be an easier way to read those UPCs with the camera on the Devour, right? Yes, there is.

One of the newest apps to show up in the Android Market is Pic2Shop and it plays very nice with the Motorola Devour. You see, the problem is that the Devour (along with several other Android phones) doesn’t have autofocus with its camera. In this way, it has a hard time with up-close photos like a barcode. This is the same issue that originally arose with the barcode scanning apps on the iPhone 3G. Pic2Shop came to the rescue then with some “image processing magic.” Said magic got obsolete with the iPhone 3GS, since it got loaded with some autofocus.

The great thing about the Pic2Shop app for Android is that it is able to “read” a barcode, even if the image taken is a blurry, out-of-focus mess. The Android app uses much the same technology as the original iPhone app. Sounds pretty cool. I don’t have much use for barcode scanners, but I can see how pricing comparison can be pretty handy for shoppers on the go.